How VR can help humanity by putting you in someone else’s shoes
StoryUP got its start producing immersive videos of World War II memorials, allowing veterans too old or too ill to travel a chance to experience those hallowed locations. Through the Honor Everywhere 360 program, VR viewers are provided for free to any WWII veteran, and come pre-loaded with StoryUP’s memorial tour content.
Beyond working with veterans, StoryUP also creates immersive video experiences for people going through intense medical procedures, like dialysis or chemotherapy. “We create a variety of experiences for people who want to escape their present situation,” said Hill, noting that VR presents unique opportunities for accomplishing that goal.
Most recently, StoryUP headed to Zambia on behalf of the PET Project, which provides mobility-limited individuals with custom personal energy transportation (PET) devices that can handle the the country’s rugged terrain. As standard wheelchair wheels are too thin to work on the rocky, uneven roads, PETs are a lifesaver to people who otherwise have to literally drag themselves along the ground.
See the full story here: http://www.digitaltrends.com/virtual-reality/how-virtual-reality-is-helping-those-in-need/
Virtual reality, augmented reality markets poised for growth spurt
The report, "The State of Virtual Reality - 2016", based on a survey of more than 100 product developers in the US that Yeti conducted in the second and third quarters of 2016, showed that 85 percent of those surveyed said they either already have VR projects underway, or will do so within one to two years.
When asked to identify which primary industries they think VR usage will significantly accelerate in the next two years, a majority of respondents (84 percent) cited entertainment. That's not surprising given the wide use of the technology for gaming purposes.
But education also scored high in terms of VR use (74 percent), as did media (63 percent), medical and healthcare (60 percent), high tech (56 percent), travel (54 percent), arts (52 percent), and real estate (51 percent). Also showing up on the VR radar screen were recreation, consumer goods, manufacturing, construction, service industry, and transportation -- among others.
According to the Yeti survey, 40 percent of respondents cited budget challenges for VR projects as a major obstacle in moving VR ahead in their organizations. And despite the enthusiasm for VR that survey respondents demonstrated, 40 percent admitted to having only an average or below average understanding of the VR development process.
See the full story here: http://www.zdnet.com/article/virtual-and-augmented-reality-systems-poised-for-growth-spurt/
‘The Simpsons’ Celebrates 600th Episode With Virtual Reality Experience
Fox Broadcasting is teaming with the Google Spotlight Stories to create a special virtual reality experience for The Simpsons couch gag to commemorate its milestone 600th episode. Titled “Planet of the Couches,” the gag will open the “Treehouse of Horror XXVII” episode on October 16 and will be available via Google Spotlight Stories and Google Cardboard app for the full VR experience.
“Planet of the Couches” takes viewers on a completely immersive VR experience as the world of The Simpsons is extended to 360 degrees. The audience is able to enter and explore the universe of the long-running animated series, with multiple viewings yielding different results.
See the full story here: http://deadline.com/2016/10/the-simpsons-600th-episode-virtual-reality-fox-1201832378/
Bladerunner 2049 coming to VR
Just hours after Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment announced the title of the new Blade Runner movie, Alcon revealed it has formed a new division called Alcon Interactive that has partnered with leading virtual reality company Oculus to create VR content based on Blade Runner 2049.
Denis Villeneuve is directing the sequel, which stars Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto, Robin Wright, Dave Bautista, Mackenzie Davis, Ana de Armas, Lennie James, Sylvia Hoeks, David Dastmalchian, Carla Juri, Hiam Abbass and Barkhad Abdi.
VR experiences are all the rage these days, and the Blade Runner 2049content will be released exclusively on the Oculus platform around the time of the film's release in October 2017.
See the full story here: http://mashable.com/2016/10/06/blade-runner-2049-virtual-reality-content-oculus-ryan-gosling-harrison-ford/#99VmpfMfJaqa
Oculus Touch to hands: Welcome to virtual reality
... on Thursday, Oculus execs unveiled Touch, a pair of $199 hand grips that promise to take VR interactivity to new heights. They go on pre-order soon and ship in early December.
There was notably no lag in terms of placing my hands in the VR realm in real time. By being able to interact with admittedly virtual limbs, I was taken one step closer to disappearing, psychologically, into this world.
See the full story here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/10/06/oculus-touch-hands-welcome-virtual-reality/91699476/
Sony senior engineer Richard Marks on why the headset offers such clear images and interesting ergonomics
TIME spoke with Sony Senior Research Engineer Dr. Richard Marks about the new platform (Marks has been with Sony for 17 years, and played a central role in the inception of Sony’s EyeToy and PlayStation Move motion controllers). In our chat, he offered a high-level overview of how the technology works, and what drove the company to make certain choices regarding it.
“There’s two basic things here, the panel and the lenses. Those are the two main things that affect visual quality,” says Marks.
Our panel just has a better red, green and blue ratio compared to the blackness. That’s one factor. Having more light-emitting portions of the panel and less of those black circuit electronics is good.”
“And then you have the refresh rate, the screen update rate, which for us is 120 frames per second.
“The next thing is the optics, and the optics should be really well matched to the pixels. In our headset they’re blowing everything up but also softening the view, so it looks like a continuous image and you don’t see the discrete pixels.
“And the other part of the optics component is that there’s something called the eye box, and that’s about how much you can move your eyes around in front of the lenses and still get a good image.
[HMD design]...having it be balanced and not pulling your neck is probably the most important thing.”
“Also, and this varies by culture, but there’s a strong bias to not having anything touching your face.
“One of the biggest things is that it has the new camera, and it’s a higher resolution stereo camera, so it can triangulate the depth better.
See the full story here: http://time.com/4520123/playstation-vr-virtual-reality-headset/
4K virtual reality headsets now possible with Sharp’s latest IGZO display
Sharp believes it has fixed this problem with the introduction of a new IGZO panel made specifically for use in VR headsets. Sharp has managed to increase the resolution of a 2.8-inch IGZO panel to 1920 x 2160 (that’s over 1,000ppi). What that means is placing two of those panels in a VR headset and using lenses still allows for magnification, but there are no visible dots anymore. And a side effect of the higher resolution per eye is that any headset using these IGZO panels can claim 4K virtual reality as a feature.
Supporting that higher resolution in a headset is going to require it be hooked up to a much more powerful PC. If you consider it could take a year or more for the IGZO panels to make their way into a consumer VR headset, that shouldn’t be a big issue. In fact, the next version of the Oculus Rift may end up using them if Sharp manages to keep the manufacturing costs down.
See the full story here: http://www.geek.com/tech/4k-virtual-reality-headsets-now-possible-with-sharps-latest-igzo-display-1673618/
In Virtual Reality, Women Run the World
A new generation of female artists is making VR the most diverse corner of the male-dominated tech space.
See the full story here: http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/09/virtual-reality-women-run-the-world-c-v-r.html
Luxottica, Intel Pair Up For Virtual Reality Eyewear
Intel is pairing up with Italian eyewear company Luxottica to help launch new “smart” glasses with a voice-activated coaching system. The glasses — named “Radar Pace” — fall under Luxottica’s subsidiary sports brand, Oakley, which was acquired by Luxottica in 2007.
Radar Pace glasses are aimed at athletes and are said to create a personalized training program that will interpret running and cycling performance data in real time.
Radar Pace glasses are intended to be “hands-free” and able to respond conversationally to users’ questions through Intel Real Speech. The Bluetooth audio headset connects athletes for phone calls and texts, as well as listening to music.
See the full story here: http://www.pymnts.com/news/partnerships-acquisitions/2016/luxottica-intel-pair-up-for-virtual-reality-eyewear/